Saw that on Facebook. Looks interesting. Could provide some realistic explanations on how terraforming could work.

The only thing, I see here is that an artificial magnetosphere at the L1 Lagrangian point, could be used to make it easier to terrarform Mars (or any other planet lacking a magnetosphere of it's own). There are two pages on the science, but if you want to use this in a science fiction campaign setting, your players just need to know there is a space station, generating "magnetic dipole field" with a tail large enough to protect their planet.

For science fiction plots, this gives you a logical reason to actually have an L1 station (when L4 and L5 stations are usually more "logical" as they are more stable) and the fact that L1 is only semi-stable means that people are going to need to periodically make sure that it stays at the L1 point. Here are a few plot ideas:

A Solar Storm has damaged L1 and the Mars protection is starting to fail: A ship needs to go and repair it immediately,

Several people on the L1 station has been taken seriously ill or murdered: The PCs are asked to go and investigate the cause,

The Magnetic Dipole Field Generator at the L1 Station has come to the end of it's life. The Sun is at the lowest point of solar activity in it's 11 year cycle. The people of Mars have gone into their solar storm shelters and the PCs need to shut down the old MDFP, install the new MDFP and get it up and running.

That's the routine of L1, but you also get the ability to have the bad guys try to misuse your L1 station.

L1 is automated and computer hackers have hijacked control. They are demanding the release of a number of known criminals back on Earth. Millions of Martians will die unless the demands are met...unless the PCs can get to L1, reboot it and restore control.

Revolutionist/terrorists have ceased control of L1. They are demanding that the Martian government steps down and hands over control of the planet to their forces.

The L1 station has been blown up by a missile strike. Mars is going into uncontrolled terraforming failure. The PCs are at the Phobos Mining Station and have to take their moon out of orbit and head towards L1, while constructing a Magnetic Dipole Field Generator around the circumfrence of Phobos.

Havard wrote:What sort of d20 Modern Campaign would do you think Mars would work best in then?

-Havard

I don't think it works for d20 Modern, at all.

I think you need to use d20 Future.

Even if you go to the near future, and assume that NASA keeps it's funding and goes for the Mars Direct option (instead of going back to the Moon first) you are going to be looking at a number of small groups going to Mars and back and doing scientific exploration. I just don't think that's interesting.

I think you need to go beyond that era, to a time when there are so many people on Mars that troublemakers can blend into the background. That is much more likely to give you a pre-terraform Mars where conflict (and adventures) can happen.

I would suggest going with the Kim Stanley Robinson trilogy of novels as eras to explore:

Red Mars gives you the early colonisation years (players would need to wear space suits),

Green Mars gives you an era when terraforming technology is being employed (players would still need to wear space suits, but large biosphere-domess could be built on the surface and used to grow crops) and

Blue Mars gives you an era when Mars is as close to Earth as it can get.

Play through those three novels (not necessarily using Kim Stanley Robinson's plots, but using his design for how Mars "works" as a world and you have an interesting place to set adventures in. But present day Mars would be pretty boring.